10 May 2017

Network with Irish and UK VC & PE investors!

One day event dedicated to connecting Irish, US, and UK Venture Capital and Private Equity investors. Meet LPs, GPs, or company founders from the region to exchange experiences through discussion panels.

Conference agenda

Learn the latest trends & insights in the European Venture Capital & Private Equity industry through discussion panels and fireside chats. We have prepared an exciting line-up of speakers who will be sharing their wealth of knowledge on topics ranging from Pension Funds' perspective on VC & PE, TMT Investments, Portfolio Performance and many more.

70 talented speakers

All speakers

Moderator

General Partner

Limited Partner

Claus Mansfeldt

Chairman & Managing Director @ SwanCap Investment Management

Claus Mansfeldt is Chairman & Managing Director of SwanCap Investment Management S.A. which is the AIFMD licensed alternative investments manager of SwanCap Partners, the group being a leading independent private markets investment management platform with offices in Munich, Luxembourg, Milan and New York. SwanCap invests in PE Funds, Direct Co-Investments and Secondaries. Prior to co-launching SwanCap in 2013, Claus held senior management positions at UniCredit entities in London where he was most recently Head of Principal Investments. He has been engaged in direct investment transactions in sectors such as automotive, business services, consumer, finance, healthcare and retail. Prior to UniCredit, Claus worked in the Corporate Finance & Capital Markets division of Commerzbank in London. Claus started his career at Nomura International, where he spent 12 years in the Merchant Banking area, focused on principal investments in Emerging Europe, and in international Capital Markets. Claus holds a BSc (Econ) from the London School of Economics & Political Science (LSE).

Colm O'Sullivan

Partner @ PAI Partners

Colm joined PAI in 2006 and heads PAI’s UK Team. He has been involved in a number of transactions including United Biscuits, Kwik Fit, Perstorp, Froneri and VPS.
He started his career at Hambros Bank in London and New-York working on various debt capital market and advisory transactions. He then moved to Deutsche Bank where he spent eight years in the Financial Sponsors Group working on a number of advisory and financing transactions for European Private Equity Firms.
Colm graduated with a Bachelor of Science Degree (Hons) in Economics from the University of Ulster and has an MBA from the Erasmus University in Rotterdam and Wharton Business School in Philadelphia.

Elaine Coughlan

Managing Partner @ Atlantic Bridge Capital

Elaine is a co-Founder and Managing Partner of Atlantic Bridge Capital a Global Growth Equity Technology Fund with over $500 million of assets under management. She is also a co-founder of Summit Bridge Capital which is the China Ireland Growth Technology Fund aimed at helping European companies scale in China. Summit Bridge is backed by China Investment Corp (CIC) which is the World’s 4th largest Sovereign investor with over $709bn of capital under management and Irelands Sovereign Wealth Fund the NTMA.
Previously Elaine was a Co-Founder of GloNav a GPS software business successfully sold to NXP for $110 million in 2008. Elaine was also as CFO / VP Finance of 3 high growth technology companies Parthus, Iona and Smartforce which she took public on both NASDAQ and LSE raising more than $1.6 billion in capital. Elaine is a Fellow of the Institute of Chartered Accountants and a qualified Chartered Director. She was named as one of Europe’s Inspiring 50, one of Europe’s Top 100 Women in Technology and appointed by the Irish Government to the Board of Enterprise Ireland.

Brian Caulfield

Partner @ Draper Esprit

Brian is a serial entrepreneur turned VC. He previously founded software companies Exceptis Technologies which was acquired by Trintech Group and Similarity Systems that was acquired by Informatica. Prior to joining Draper Esprit, Brian was a partner at Trinity Venture Capital where he sat on the boards of or led investments in AePONA (Intel), ChangingWorlds (Amdocs), CR2, SteelTrace (Compuware) and APT (CSR). Brian currently sits on the board of The Irish Times, Ireland’s leading daily newspaper, in addition to his Draper Esprit portfolio companies. Brian is a Computer Engineering graduate of Trinity College Dublin

Fergal McAleavey

Head of Private Equity @ Irish Strategic Investment Fund

The Ireland Strategic Investment Fund (ISIF) was established in December 2014, with a statutory mandate to invest on a commercial basis in a manner designed to support economic activity and employment in Ireland. The dual objective mandate of the ISIF - investment return and economic impact - represents a new approach to investing and will require all investments to generate both investment returns and economic impact in Ireland. The fund has the flexibility to make investments across the capital structure of companies and projects, both debt and equity, and across a range of investment types and sectors.
Fergal was previously Managing Director at AIB Corporate Finance, one of Ireland’s leading corporate advisory firms. Over the years he has led a wide range of investment transactions including M&A, buyouts, debt refinancing’s and IPO’s. While in AIB Corporate Finance, Fergal was seconded to the SMU within the Department of Finance which has responsibility for the completion of the restructuring of the banking system and managing the State’s shareholding in the banks and disposals thereof. In his earlier career Fergal worked as a Technology Equity Analyst at Dolmen Securities and as a Senior Scientist at Optronics Ireland. Fergal has an MSc in Physics from DCU and a PhD in Physics from Trinity College.

David Atterbury

Managing Director @ HarbourVest

David Atterbury focuses on European secondary investments. He joined HarbourVest in 2004 and has led a number of European secondary transactions, including Absolute Private Equity and SVG Capital plc. He currently serves on the advisory boards of funds managed by Abénex Capital, Bridgepoint Development Capital, Clyde Blowers Capital, Magnum Capital, Motion Equity Partners, and NewQuest Capital Partners. David joined HarbourVest after five years with Abbey National Treasury Services Plc, where he was Director of Private Equity. His responsibilities at Abbey National included the development of a direct private equity portfolio and the subsequent disposal of a large diversified portfolio of partnership commitments and direct holdings. His previous experience also includes five years with PricewaterhouseCoopers, which included a one-year assignment to Bridgepoint Capital in London. David received a BSc (with Honours) in International Management and French from the University of Bath in 1994, and completed professional examinations in 1997 to qualify as a Chartered Accountant.

Neal Costello

Managing Director @ AlpInvest

Neal is a Managing Director in the Secondary Investments team and a member of the Investment Committee. He focuses on European transactions and leads the European secondary sourcing effort. He rejoined AlpInvest Partners in 2015 from Canada Pension Plan Investment Board, where he focused on secondaries and co-investments in Europe. Neal originally joined AlpInvest in 2003 in the New York office, and was ultimately a Principal based in Hong Kong leading the firm’s Secondary efforts in Asia through 2013.
Previously, Neal was with CIBC World Markets’ Mergers & Acquisitions Investment Banking division. He currently serves as a Director on the Columbia University Business School Private Equity Board. Neal received his MBA from Columbia University in New York and an Honors Business degree (HBA) from the Ivey School of Business at Western University in Canada. He is also a CFA Charterholder.

David Barbour

Managing Partner @ FPE Capital

David Barbour is the Managing Partner of FPE Capital LLP. He has worked within the business since 2008 and in 2016 was a founding partner on the spin-out of the team and the existing portfolio from the Fleming family office. FPE Capital LLP is an established growth capital investor in the UK lower mid-market, having made 11 investments to date, with revenue growth of over 100% across its portfolio. The first investment in its new fund, FPE Fund II LP, SaaS assessment and proctoring business Questionmark, was completed in September 2016.
David started his career in the broadcast media and became a lawyer then investment banker at Robert Fleming and JP Morgan Chase prior to joining FF&P in January 2003. He joined Robert Fleming in 1995 after spending a year with UK cable company NTL. He currently sits on the board of London based fixed wireless telco and IT company Optimity.

Jean-François Le Ruyet

Partner @ Quilvest Private Equity

Jean-François Le Ruyet is a Partner of the Quilvest Private Equity team, co-managing the US/Europe co-investments and funds programs with a focus on buy-out in Europe. Jean-François is a member of the Quilvest funds and co-investments Investment Committees. He also sits on the Advisory Board of various PE funds.
Prior to joining Quilvest, Jean-François gained seven years of management and strategic consulting experience with Bain & Company as well as later with McKinsey & Company. At McKinsey, Jean-François worked with several European Private Equity funds in various industries, in particular the media and consumer goods sectors. His assignments included strategic and market due diligence, and merger and acquisition valuations. Prior to his consulting career, Jean-François worked for two years at Société Générale in São Paulo, Brazil.
Jean-François is a graduate of HEC (Ecole des Hautes Etudes Commerciales) and holds an MBA from Columbia Business School.

Colin Burrow

Head of Co-Investments & Secondaries @ Aberdeen Asset Management

Colin Burrow is the Head of Co-Investments and Secondaries at Aberdeen Private Equity team. He is responsible for all aspects of investing in these areas including sourcing, appraising and executing investments. He is also a member of the Private Equity Investment Committee and the Private Equity Management Committee. Colin joined Aberdeen in 2014 through the acquisition of Scottish Widows Investment Partnership. He has also held private equity investment roles at Lloyds Bank and Bridgepoint and began his career advising on mid-market buyouts with Andersen Corporate Finance. Colin holds an LLB (Hons) in Law from the University of Strathclyde and a Securities Institute Diploma.

Jonathan Cosgrave

Managing Director @ Carlyle

Jonathan Cosgrave is a Managing Director at The Carlyle Group and Co-head of Carlyle’s Ireland Fund. Mr. Cosgrave is based at Carlyle’s office in Dublin and focuses on growth capital and buyout investment opportunities across all industry sectors in the Irish market. Prior to joining Carlyle in 2014, he was a Principal at Warburg Pincus in London, where he invested in growth capital and buyout opportunities across Europe, predominantly in the healthcare sector. Jonathan joined Warburg Pincus in 2004 from JPMorgan’s London office where he had spent three years within the investment banking division providing corporate finance and mergers & acquisitions advisory services to UK publicly-quoted companies. Mr. Cosgrave is a member of the Board of Directors of Carroll Cuisine, an Irish producer of branded cooked ham and chilled ready meals, Lily O’Brien’s, a producer of premium boxed chocolates, and Learning Pool, a technology and content focused eLearning company.

David Morse

Global Co-Head of Private Equity Co-Investments @ Neuberger Berman

David Morse is a Managing Director of Neuberger Berman, and is the Global Co-Head of Private Equity Co-Investments. He is also a member of Co-Investment and Private Debt Investment Committees. Mr. Morse is currently a Board Observer of Behavioral Health Group, Taylor Precision Investments, Gabriel Brothers’ Stores, Extraction Oil and Gas, and ProAmpac, Inc., all of which are portfolio companies of our dedicated co-investment funds. Mr. Morse joined Lehman Brothers in 2003 as a Managing Director and principal in the Merchant Banking Group where he helped raise and invest Lehman Brothers Merchant Banking Partners III L.P. Prior to joining Lehman Brothers, Mr. Morse was a founding Partner of Hampshire Equity Partners (and its predecessor entities). Founded in 1993, Hampshire is a middle-market private equity and corporate restructuring firm with $825 million of committed capital over three private equity funds. Prior to Hampshire, Mr. Morse worked in GE Capital’s Corporate Finance Group providing one-stop financings to middle-market buyouts. Mr. Morse began his career in 1984 in Chemical Bank’s middle-market lending group. Mr. Morse holds an MBA from the Tuck School of Business at Dartmouth College and a BA in Economics from Hamilton College. Mr. Morse is a member of the MBA Advisory Board of the Tuck School, a member of the Alumni Council of Hamilton College, and a member of the Board of Trustees of the Berkshire School.

Uli Grabenwarter

Deputy Director @ European Investment Fund

Uli Grabenwarter is Deputy Director at European Investment Fund overseeing EIF’s activities in Impact Investing, Technology Transfer and Venture Capital. Previously he was responsible for EIF’s strategic development for equity and has led the build-up of the Social Impact Accelerator, the first pan-European social impact investing fund-of-funds. From 2010 to 2012 he conducted a research project on impact investing in collaboration with IESE University of Navarra (Barcelona) and the Family Office Circle Foundation in Switzerland, analysing best-market-practice for impact investing in private equity and VC. He is a visiting Professor at IESE University. Until 2010 Uli was Head, Equity Fund Investments at EIF and previously had worked several years at the European Investment Bank and PWC in corporate finance, consulting and audit. He is a Member of the Global Steering Group on Impact Investing created in continuation of the G8 Impact Investing Taskforce in 2015. He is author of numerous publications on impact investing and venture capital and holds a Master’s degree in Business and Finance of the University of Graz.

Arjan van Wieren

Head of Multi-Management @ MN

Arjan van Wieren is Director of Private Equity, Infrastructure, Real Estate & Equities at MN. In this capacity he oversees approximately 55 billion Euro in assets of which 10 billion Euro in Private Equity & Infrastructure. MN manages on behalf of several Dutch Pension Funds approximately 120 billion Euro. Prior to joining MN in 2008, he worked from 1999 to 2008 at Kempen Capital Management where he was responsible for managing illiquid alternative investment portfolio’s and traditional liquid multi-asset portfolio’s on behalf of institutional investors. Arjan van Wieren holds a Master Degree in Finance & Investments from the University of Groningen and is a CFA charterholder.

Sean Seton-Rogers

Partner @ PROfounders Capital

PROfounders Capital is an early-stage venture capital fund investing in European Internet, mobile, and ecommerce companies. The fund is unique in that all capital comes from successful founders who have created over $6bn in value. PROfounders has invested and supported leading startups such as Made.com, Unity, GetYourGuide, onefinestay (acquired by Accor), Festicket, and others.
Sean is a founding Partner at PROfounders Capital and works with portfolio companies such as onefinestay, GetYourGuide, Festicket, and Splash. Since 2000, Sean has been investing in technology companies across both the US and Europe at both Benchmark Capital Europe and Commonwealth Capital Ventures in Boston.
Sean has also worked as a strategy consultant with Bain & Company, in both the US and Europe. Sean received his MBA from the Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania, where he graduated as a Palmer Scholar. In addition, Sean graduated with a BS in Chemical Engineering from Rice University.

Matej Boda

Founder & CMO @ DECENT

Matej was always interested in new technologies and future progress. During his studies at the Technical University in Bratislava he took an internship in BMW Munich as a technical concept creator. Although his background is in applied mechanics, he became involved in Blockchain Technologies in 2013. Fascinated by the decentralized protocols, he was interested in the cryptocurrency mining at first. Since then he has supported the community by helping to organize events such as Central European Bitcoin Expo Vienna and BTC2B Congress, advising on mining technologies and discussing future possibilities for blockchain.

Pietro Bezza

Co-Founder & Managing Partner @ Connect Ventures

Pietro is a tech entrepreneur turned early stage investor. He is Co-Founder and Managing Partner at Connect Ventures, seed VC firm backing product-led entrepreneurs. Pietro likes partnering with founders from day zero, when the product and DNA of their companies first takes shape. His investments include Citymapper, Typeform, Space Ape, Side.
Prior to starting Connect, Pietro was co-founder/CEO at Neo Network, a mobile entertainment company acquired by De Agostini Group.
Pietro happily leaves in London with his wife Stefania and his two sons Leonardo and Mattia. When he is not helping founders or wrestling with his kids, he plays ping-pong and tries to learn coding.

Luis Gutierrez Roy

Managing General Partner @ Telegraph Hill Capital

Founder and Managing General Partner at Telegraph Hill Capital (“THCAP”), an early-stage VC firm based in Barcelona & San Francisco investing in fast-growing start-ups across various segments such as social, adtech, digital health, m-commerce, media, enterprise software and edtech, amongst others. Luis has led over 25 investments, primarily in North America but also in Europe and Israel, including TheBouqs, Clutter, Chewse, Fleet, LettuceApps (acquired by Intuit) and Zaption (acquired by Workday).
Prior to founding THCAP, Luis developed most of his professional career in Corporate Finance at Ernst & Young and PricewaterhouseCoopers as Managing Director and Associate Director, respectively, assisting clients in cross-border M&A transactions in the US, Europe, Asia and LatAm. Luis has been a Board member of both public and private tech companies in the US, EU and Israel, and currently serves on the Board of Captio (Barcelona) and Chronogolf (Montreal). Luis holds a B.Sc. in Business Administration from the University of Barcelona and received his MBA with concentration in Finance from the University of San Francisco.

Rob Kniaz

Founding Partner @ Hoxton Ventures

Rob is currently a founding partner at Hoxton Ventures, an early stage venture capital firm investing across Europe. He is an active board member at Immunio and Raptor Supplies. He was also an advisor to Jaycut (acquired by RIM) and SocialMedia.com (acquired by LivingSocial). Prior to Hoxton, Rob was formerly a member of the investments team at Fidelity Ventures in London, focusing on consumer internet and software as a service sectors. Prior to Fidelity, he was on the new business development team at Google and was previously a lead product manager for AdSense's front-end systems. While at Google, he also launched the AdWords pay-per-action (PPA) product and was actively involved in the acquisition of Feedburner in 2008. Rob began his career in Intel's highly selective technical sales program where he worked to grow their entrepreneurial reseller channel in the Federal Government vertical and later in Latin America from Bogota and Miami Beach. He holds a BS in Computer Science from the University of Maryland and a Masters certificate in Management Science & Engineering from Stanford University.

Mark Sims

Senior Investment Manager @ British Business Bank

Mark has worked in the venture solutions team at British Business Bank for four years. British Business Bank are one of the biggest investors in UK venture, and Limited Partner in over 30 funds totalling more than $1b of investments. Prior to British Business Bank Mark worked in corporate finance and hedge fund administration, and is an accountant by background (FCCA).

Shay Garvey

Founding Partner @ Frontline Ventures

Shay is a founding partner of Frontline Ventures and one of the most active and experienced early-stage technology investors in Europe.
Shay has invested in over 30 early-stage European tech companies. Notable exits include Toucan Technologies (acquired by PMC Sierra, NASDAQ: PMCS), Exceptis Technologies (acquired by Trintech, NASDAQ: TTPA), DRM Data Management (acquired by P&O UK, LSE: PO), and most recently Logentries (acquired by Rapid7, NASDAQ: RPD). Shay currently sits on the board of Qstream, Roomex, Linked Finance, and AQMetrics.
Shay has engineering degrees from University College Dublin (BSc) and University of New Brunswick Canada (M Eng). He also has an MBA from the Harvard Business School.
Shay has had a wide and varied career - covering corporates (Exxon, Corning, McKinsey), startups (Glentara Foods, Irish Seafood Producers Group), and venture capital (Delta Partners). Throughout his career in venture, he has been part of teams that have raised eight funds, totalling a combined $500 million through 3 different economic cycles.
Shay has long been interested in the convergence of startup culture and society, as well the internationalisation of companies and ideas. He is Chair of the Science Gallery Trinity College, as well as Genio (which manages the Social Reform Fund in Ireland). Both of these institutions are leaders in their sectors and are expanding globally.

Stefan Glänzer

Founding Partner @ Passion Capital

Stefan Glänzer is an entrepreneur turned investor in London. He was named the best angel investor in Europe 2010/2011 by readers and editors of TechCrunch Europe, and was the first investor and executive chairman of Last.fm, seeing that company through to its sale to CBS in 2007. Prior to that Stefan was co-founder of ricardo.de, one of the first European online auction sites, which he took public in 1999 and merged to QXLricardo in 2000. In 2009 he founded Passion Capital, an early stage Venture Capital firm.
His active portfolio of around 90 seed investments show a strong presence of Fintech: Between 2007-2010 Tradeshift, Smava, Smarkets and Flattr. From 2011 onwards DueDil, GoCardless, Kreditech, Coinfloor, Digital Shadows, Lendable, Lendino, Deposit Solutions, Ravelin, Monzo, Ginmon, Nested, Finimize and Tide.
Stefan is born and raised in Hamburg, holds a PHD in foreign exchange risk management and was a professional DJ for more than a decade. He enjoys living in London with his wife and their three kids.

Furio Pietribiasi

Furio Pietribiasi

Furio Pietribiasi is responsible for Mediolanum’s business operations in Ireland and Luxembourg. He is Managing Director of Mediolanum Asset Management and Mediolanum International Funds, a Member of the Board of Mediolanum International Life and Chairman of Gamax Management AG.
Having initially trained in a professional service practice in Italy his career in financial services has spanned over 20 years covering roles as Financial Analyst, Portfolio Manager and Head of Investments as well as having Group responsibility for Mediolanum’s international product development before assuming his current position.
He is also an active member of the broader financial services industry, acting as former Chairman of the Irish Association of Investment Managers, Member of the Board of Financial Services Ireland, for which he is also the chairman the Fintech taskforce and he has been a member of different advisory groups at the Taoiseach Department in Ireland for the Asset management and Fund industry.

Matt Lerner

Partner @ 500 Startups

Matt Lerner is a Partner leading 500 Startups in the U.K. He has led over 30 early-stage investments, and runs their “Series A” growth program for seed-stage startups. Prior to joining 500 Startups, he worked as a Marketing Director and later Head of UK SME at PayPal, where he built and managed growth teams that helped grow PayPal from an $800M business to an $8B business in 10 years. Lerner occasionally lectures on “growth hacking" at Stanford Business School and Imperial college.

Harry Briggs

Founding Partner @ BGF Ventures

Harry has been both an entrepreneur and an investor. He is a founding partner of BGF Ventures, a £200M early-stage Venture fund, focused on early-stage UK technology companies. To date, BGF Ventures have made 15 investments in cutting-edge tech companies such as ROLI, Paddle, Marvel and Garrison Technology.
Previously, he spent nearly 6 years with Balderton Capital, one of Europe's leading Venture firms, where he initiated investments such as The Hut Group, GoCardless, Lyst, Touch Surgery, Appear Here, ROLI and Tictail. Before Balderton, he co-founded Firefly Tonics, a health drinks company, which he helped build into a luxury brand with customers in 35 countries, before selling to Private Equity firm Langholm Capital. Harry started his career at McKinsey & Co. in London and New York, and at 3, the mobile network, working on product and marketing strategy pre-launch. He has a degree in Experimental Psychology from Oxford. Outside work, he plays the piano, and co-founded a chamber choir, Voce, in 2003, that has performed around the world and had a brief glimmer of fame accompanying the Rolling Stones at Glastonbury.

Reshma Sohoni

Founding Partner @ Seedcamp

Reshma is Founding Partner at Seedcamp, Europe’s first seed fund, and has invested in 240+ companies since launch in 2007. Reshma is passionate about the intersection of technology and business and has degrees in Engineering and Business from UPenn and M&T.
Early on in her career, during the height of the dot com boom, Reshma worked in M&A and venture capital across B2B Software and Internet services businesses in the US and India. She had a helping hand in building MakeMyTrip (NASDAQ) in its formative days.
Following on from this, Reshma went to INSEAD and earned her MBA, fell in love with Europe and stayed on to work in Commercial and Marketing Strategy at Vodafone. Starting Seedcamp in 2007 was a once in a lifetime opportunity and one that she jumped into with a strong desire to help the European founder realize global success.

Gavin Holland

Partner @ Anthemis Group

As Ecosystem Development Partner Gavin is responsible for maximising the value of our ecosystem for all members, spanning our portfolio companies, advisory clients, investors, key influencers and future thinkers. As part of this role he holds the accountability for investor relations, as well as continuing to drive our talent business which he joined to build.
Prior to joining Anthemis, Gavin ran the Financial Services talent business across Europe, Middle East, and Africa for Heidrick & Struggles. In his 13 years there, Gavin worked in the New York and London offices, became one of the youngest Partners in the firm’s history at 29, and was recognised internally and externally as one of the very few executive search professionals who really understand the intersect point of the financial services industry with technology, change and innovation.
Currently based back in the UK, Gavin has a BSc in Mathematics from Warwick University, and an MBA from Cass Business School.

Carles Ferrer

General Partner @ Nauta Capital

Carles Ferrer is General Partner of Nauta Capital and based in London. Nauta is a pan-european VC firm with offices in London, Barcelona and also Boston. Nauta focuses on capital efficient B2B software propositions. Carles has extensive venture capital experience, having actively managed different VC funds since 2000.
Carles’ areas of interest include Security, SaaS, Marketing/Social Analytics/Intelligence and Critical data driven companies. His previous experience includes also management positions in corporate strategy and planning/finance divisions with blue chip companies in the telecommunications, defence/SW/auto spaces and financial services.
He has led more than 30 transactions over the last few years including Scytl, Brandwatch, ChannelSight, CloudIQ, BeMyEye, Agnitio and Getapp

Stephen Keogh

Partner @ William Fry

Stephen is a Partner in the Corporate Department of William Fry and specialises in transactional corporate work with a particular emphasis on private equity transactions, acting for both investors and companies. Stephen also advises on a range of general corporate matters, including corporate restructurings.
Recent significant deals include advising: AA plc on the sale of AA Ireland to Carlyle Cardinal, The shareholders of Redbrook Ingredients on its sale to Frutarom, The owners of The Spencer, The Beacon and The Morgan on the sale of those hotels and operating companies to Lalco, A Singapore private investor on the purchase of the Trinity Lodge and its operating company Polaris Partners on its venture investment in Voysis, Prepaypower on various trading agreements, Ion Equity on the sale of Ocean Media to Lonsdale Capital Partners, Stericycle, Inc on the Irish law aspects of its integration of Shred-it, UTV Media on the Irish law aspects of the sale of its television business to ITV
In IFLR 1000, 2017 clients state that "Stephen Keogh has been extremely helpful at all times - he responds quickly to queries and is generally available if needed."
Chambers Global, 2016 state that Stephen "has the highest integrity, and is bright, commercial, solution-focused and always gets results."
Chambers Global 2014 notes his strength in technology. According to clients, he "always impresses everybody, is very pragmatic and cuts to the core of things with his commercial mind." Stephen is also described by clients as a "very clever and clear-thinking guy who can see the wood from the trees". Stephen is recommended as an "excellent professional" in Legal 500 EMEA 2015. According to Chambers Global, 2013, Stephen Keogh is regarded as 'an accomplished transactional lawyer with notable expertise in private equity and venture capital work'. Legal 500 EMEA, 2012 recommends him as "very thorough".

Timo Tirkkonen

Co-founder & Partner @ Inventure

Timo is a Co-founder and Partner of Inventure, a Nordic venture capital company investing in seed and early-stage technology startups. His areas of interest lie within enterprise software, future connectivity, cybersecurity and gaming.
At Inventure, Timo focuses on the investment strategy and portfolio value creation. He is actively involved in crafting product and partnership strategies of the portfolio companies. Timo is managing the investments in Detectify, NowInteract, Rightware, Merus Power and Spectral Engines. Previously, he acted as a private investor with Innocap Oy. Having started his career in the telecom sector with Nokia and Sonera, Timo has over 19 years of experience in coaching, managing and internationalizing early-stage companies.

Máire Cunningham

Partner @ Beauchamps

Máire is a partner in Beauchamps' corporate & commercial team. Máire acts for both investors and investees across all sectors including food, agri tech and med tech.
Máire has broad expertise in complex and sophisticated acquisitions and restructurings, shareholder relations and has a particular specialism in equity investments. She also has extensive experience in all areas of corporate law with a particular focus on private equity and venture capital.
Máire also advises on the establishment of partnerships and partnership law.

Yaron Zafir

Principal @ Rede Partners

Yaron Zafir is a Principal at Rede Partners, a London-based independent fund-raising advisor for the private equity industry, which since inception has advised on mandates aggregating over €10 billion for its clients. Yaron heads Rede’s secondaries practice and is also involved with origination activities across both primary and secondary mandates. With over 13 years of private equity experience, Yaron has led a wide range of GP advisory mandates including fund raisings, fund top-ups, tail-end fund liquidations and manager spin-outs. Prior to joining Rede, Yaron worked for over five years at global private equity investor Paul Capital, where he co-founded the London secondaries deal team, and before that as an investment manager at Cedar Fund, an early stage venture investor. Yaron holds an MBA with distinction from INSEAD and a BSc in Computer Science and Management from Tel Aviv University.

Alessio Beverina

Co-Founder & Partner @ Panakes Partners

Alessio is co-founder and General partner of a new VC firm, Panakes Partners, that finances Medical innovative companies, with extremely promising products and great ambition, in Europe and Israel.
Alessio has 9 years of VC experience in Sofinnova Partners, one of the largest European VCs, grown internally from Analyst to Partner positions, with European and American exposure.
He began his career in 1997 as a researcher at LETI, one of the most important European Labs in the research field, before joining the central R&D group of STMicroelectronics.
He graduated from Politecnico di Milano, with a degree in chemical engineering, specialising in the chemistry and physics of solid materials, and with an MBA from the Ecole Supérieure de Commerce de Paris (ESCP-EAP). Alessio is a Kauffman Fellow.

Gautom Kakoty

Partner @ Seligman Private Equity Select

Gautom is a partner at Seligman Private Equity Select LLP, which he joined in 2006, and is primarily responsible for sourcing and executing secondary deals. Prior to this, he was with Dresdner Kleinwort Wasserstein, where he worked in the corporate finance department. He graduated from Oxford University with an honours degree in Russian.

Igal Weinstein

General Partner @ Phenomen Ventures

Igal is a general partner with Phenomen Ventures, where together with his partner, he is leading late stage investments in internet start-ups in Europe, US and Israel. Prior to Phenomen Ventures, with over 12 years of successful entrepreneurial and management experience (non-tech), Igal had led multiple cross-border M&A transactions, was an early investor and entrepreneur in a large real estate development company and an investor in early stage ventures. The law firm Igal co-founded has been repeatedly ranked among the leading law firms in Real Estate and M&A practices in Israel. Igal holds degrees in law and finance (with honors).

Paul McNabb

Partner @ Episode 1

Paul has had a highly successful career in high tech as both a senior executive and an entrepreneur. Most recently, he served as the Chief Strategy Officer for Cisco Services, a $12bn division of Cisco, where he led the global strategy and acquisitions team. Previously he had run a series of global businesses for Cisco. As an entrepreneur he founded and exited two businesses in the US, one an innovative consulting firm sold to Cambridge Technology Partners, and the second a B2B Social Network for CIOs sold to Earthweb. His early background was in consulting, working for Accenture and other major international consulting firms, including his own. He has worked in venture capital in the US, and has broad experience in many B2B technologies. He has also worked globally, living in Shanghai, New York, San Francisco and multiple European Countries. With a passion for strategy and marketing, and an extensive network of contacts and experience to draw on, Paul enjoys nothing better than working with entrepreneurs to tease out the goals and priorities they need to operationalize their vision.

Erik Jorgensen

Director @ Intel Capital

Erik is an Investment Director in Intel Capital’s London office where he has worked since 2007. His focus areas of investment include enterprise, mobile and consumer services. Erik brings a global perspective to venture capital and growth technology companies, having accrued nearly twenty years of experience working for venture capital funds and technology companies in Europe, Israel, Asia-Pacific and the United States. Erik started his career in the investment bank Hambrecht & Quist where he specialized in mergers and acquisitions for high-growth companies in the communications, semiconductor, and software spaces. Erik holds an A.B. degree from Princeton University.

Kevin Sherry

Executive Director @ Enterprise Ireland

Kevin Sherry is an Executive Director at Enterprise Ireland with responsibility for Global Business Development. In this role he is responsible for Enterprise Ireland’s activities with all sectors both in Ireland and Overseas.
Kevin’s private sector experience prior to Enterprise Ireland includes engineering and management positions within the electronics industry both with multinationals in Ireland and overseas.
He is a graduate of Trinity College Dublin with a BSC in Engineering and a graduate of the Advanced Management Programme at Wharton University, USA.

Rainer Christine

Partner @ Earlybird Venture Capital

Rainer Christine is a partner with Earlybird Venture Capital. For the past few years Rainer has been active in the venture capital industry, as a private investor in life-science companies and as a member of several supervisory boards, e.g. AyoxxA Biosystems and Cryotherapeutics. He was recently named Business Angel of the Year 2014 by Germany’s network BAND. Rainer’s focus and core expertise is helping to build successful life-science companies. From its inception in 1998 until a successful trade sale in 2008 Rainer was the CEO of the German-American biotools company amaxa. Rainer co-founded the company with his partner Gregor Siebenkotten after winning one of Germany’s first business-plan contests. By 2008 amaxa employed 160 people, had a very active marketing and sales department and one of the largest R&D groups for gene transfer worldwide.
Rainer was trained in molecular and cellular biology at the University of Cologne, the University of Sussex and the German Rheumatism Research Centre in Berlin and performed his scientific work in the lab of Professor Andreas Radbruch.

Karen McCormick

CIO @ Beringea

Karen is a Partner and Chief Investment Officer at Beringea responsible for making new investments and working with portfolio companies through to exit. Her investments include D3O Holdings Ltd, MatsSoft, Sealskinz Holdings Ltd, Thread, InContext Solutions, and BlisMedia. Karen also led investments into Monica Vinader, Watchfinder, Eagle Rock and Cross Solar.
Karen was previously with the Boston Consulting Group and ran the Watches division of Swiss Army/Wenger. She also has experience with start-ups as both a founder and advisor. Karen has lived and worked in the US, Europe, and Asia, and has an MBA from INSEAD and a BSBA from Boston University.

Jan Willem Nieuwenhuize

Managing Director FinTech @ ING

Jan Willem Nieuwenhuize is a managing director at the Fintech team of ING Bank. The team is responsible for partnerships with companies that can provide an innovative or disruptive product/service that is of strategic value to ING Bank. Partnerships can take various forms, ranging from proof-of- concepts to equity investments and combinations thereof. Jan Willem joined ING Bank in 2007 through ING Corporate Investments, the principal investments arm of ING. Jan Willem currently serves on the boards of two of their investments, Agendia and Bright Computing. Prior to joining ING, Jan Willem worked for merchant bank Kempen & Co in the M&A and ECM team. Jan Willem holds an MSc in Econometrics from the Erasmus University in Rotterdam.

Frédéric Collard

Managing Director @ Ardian

Frédéric Collard is Managing Director within Ardian, the Continental Europe’s leading private investment company with US$ 60 billion of assets managed and advised. He held several positions as financial analyst and fund manager until 1990 when he joined the private equity team of Dominique Senequier at GAN/ Compagnie JP Elkann. In 1996, he participated to foundation of AXA Private Equity which became ARDIAN in 2013. He was a partner of its LBO Mid Cap team until 2010. Since then, he seconds Dominique Gaillard in the management of AXA Capital, a €320m fund taking minority stakes in listed companies. He also contributes his LBO experience to the Co-investment team. Frédéric holds an MBA from the University of Paris-Dauphine and is a certified Financial Analyst.

Radboud Vlaar

Founding Partner @ Orange Growth Capital

Radboud Vlaar is Co-Founder and Partner at Orange Growth Capital (OGC). OGC is a Venture Capital firm focused on FinTech in EMEA founded in Q3 2013 with offices in Amsterdam, London & Singapore (www.orangegrowthcapital.com). OGC has to date made 14 investments in Europe and South East Asia. Prior to founding OGC, Radboud spend 10 years as partner at McKinsey & Company, where he focused on Financial Services and Private Equity. Prior to McKinsey Radboud worked at TPG, where he worked on M&A and supported the set-up of a Venture Fund. Radboud achieved 4 master degrees from the University of Groningen. Additionally Radboud has co-founded 3 companies (Security, Big Data and Construction) Radboud Vlaar is a Dutch Citizen who splits his time between London and Amsterdam, is married and has 3 children.

Owen James

Investment Director @ 17Capital

Owen joined 17Capital in 2015. He has fifteen years of experience in private equity, banking and accountancy.
Prior to joining 17Capital, Owen was an investment professional at SVG Advisers (now part of Aberdeen Asset Management). At SVG, he worked on primary and secondary fund investment opportunities and direct co-investments across private equity and private debt. He was also involved with the management of several investment vehicles, including structured feeder vehicles, leveraged fund-of-funds and listed investment trusts.
Previously, Owen was part of the leveraged finance team at Bank of Scotland (now part of Lloyds Banking Group), where he originated and executed debt finance transactions for the UK private equity mid-market. Owen started his career at PwC, where he qualified as a Chartered Accountant.
Owen holds a Bachelor’s degree (Hons) in social sciences from Durham University. He speaks conversational French.

Dermot Berkery

General Partner @ Delta Partners

Dermot Berkery joined Delta Partners in 1999 as a General Partner. He serves on the board of SimLocal, Sensl, Luzern, KidStart, StitcherAds, Davra Networks and Clavis Technology. He was also previously on the board of Farran Technology (sold in 2005 to Smiths Industries), Similarity Systems (sold in 2006 to Informatica Inc), Brite;Bill (sold to Amdocs in 2016) amongst others.
Before joining Delta, he was a Senior Manager with McKinsey & Co. Prior to McKinsey, he was a Senior in the Corporate Financial Services Division of Arthur Andersen in Dublin and London, where he specialised in financial restructurings.
A graduate of University College Dublin in Commerce, he holds an MBA with distinction from the Harvard Business School and is qualified as a Chartered Accountant.
Dermot has written a book for entrepreneurs seeking venture capital entitled Raising Venture Capital for the Serious Entrepreneur, published by McGraw-Hill.

Barry O'Dowd

Global Head of Emerging Business @ IDA Ireland

Barry O’Dowd is Global Head of the Emerging Business and New Forms of Investment Divisions at IDA Ireland. IDA is Ireland's inward investment promotion agency, and is a non-commercial semi-state body promoting Foreign Direct Investment into Ireland through a wide range of services. Prior to his current position Barry headed IDA’s Pharmaceutical and Biotechnology Division. Currently 9 of the World’s Top 10 Pharmaceutical and Biotechnology companies have businesses located in Ireland and Barry led an IDA team which had these as customers. Barry did his Masters programme in Trinity College Dublin in Strategic Management and is a Barrister of Law. From 2002 -2005 he and his family lived in New Jersey whilst he worked with AkzoNobel.

Martin Hauge

Chairman @ Frog Capital

Martin is an advisor and angel investor with 11 years’ experience as Venture Capitalist, primarily as former General Partner in Creandum (first VC in Spotify) where he was in charge of multiple exits a.o. Jays AB (IPO), IPtronics (acquired by Mellanox) and Nanoradio (acquired by Samsung). He is an investor in London based Felix Capital and Frog Capital where he is the Chairman of the Board. Martin has started multiple companies and he is or has recently been on the board of Vibbio (N), No Isolation (N), Automile (US), Appear TV (N), Vivino (US) and Auto-Butler (DK). Martin's track record includes more than 15 years of operational experience as a CEO and more than 25 years of board experience from tech companies.

Niall Olden

Managing Partner @ Kernel Capital

Niall Olden is Managing Partner of Kernel Capital, a firm he established in Cork in 1999. For over 20 years he has led multiple fundraising, mergers, acquisitions and trade sales of Irish technology companies in transactions across the US, Europe & Asia. Under Niall’s direction the firm has delivered Funds with an average IRR of 20%+ per annum for each year from 2002 to 2016. He led the firm to become the first and only Venture Capital firm with dedicated Funds for investing in both jurisdictions on the island of Ireland. Kernel Capital's portfolio of over 80 companies employ almost 1,200 people, primarily at graduate and post graduate level.
Niall holds an M.Sc. International Business from Trinity College Dublin (2007) where he completed a First Class Hons. Thesis ‘Kernel Capital and the Irish Venture Capital Market’. This thesis set the foundation for the future direction of the firm. He is an Alumni of the Enterprise Ireland sponsored Global Business Program, IMD International, Switzerland (2006) and is a member of the Cork Education & Training board, the Audit Committee of University College Cork National University of Ireland and the Advisory Board of GatewayUCC and the Telecommunications Software and Systems Group at the Waterford Institute of Technology.

Neil McGowan

Co-Head of Investments @ MML Growth Capital Partners Ireland

Neil is a Director and Co-Head of Investments with MML Growth Capital Partners Ireland. He led MML’s investments in IdentiGEN, Prim-Ed Publishing and Fastway and represents MML on the boards of these and other portfolio companies. Prior to joining MML Ireland, Neil spent 5 years as an Investment Director with FL Partners. Neil started his career with PwC in Dublin, later spending eight years working in investment banking at HSBC and Bank of America in London before relocating to Dublin with Goodbody Corporate Finance. Neil is a Fellow of the Institute of Chartered Accountants in Ireland and graduated with a MAcc and BComm from University College Dublin.

Ertan Can

Partner @ HR Ventures

Ertan Can has joined HR Ventures in 2012 and is responsible for direct and indirect venture investments. He has invested in more than 20 startups and VC funds in Europe with the focus on Travel Tech and Mobility. Before joining HR Ventures Ertan held positions at JP Morgan and the technology company Thomson Reuters. He has an MBA degree from ESCP.

Mark Drugan

Managing Director @ Capital Dynamics

Mark is a Managing Director and Head of European Primaries Investing. He has over 28 years of experience evaluating, selecting and monitoring private equity fund investments and sits on several private equity fund advisory boards. He has been closely involved in the design and implementation of the British Venture Capital Association’s annual performance measurement survey since the pilot study in the early 1990s. Mark holds a bachelor’s degree in Mathematics from the University of Birmingham.

Manus Rogan

Managing Partner @ Fountain Healthcare Partners

Dr Manus Rogan is a Managing Partner and co-founder of Fountain Healthcare Partners. He has over 27 years of investment and operating experience in the life science sector in both the US and Europe. Manus earned a PhD in chemistry from the University of York (sponsored by GlaxoSmithKline) and an MBA from Trinity College Dublin.
Manus began his career in product development at GlaxoSmithkline in the UK and in 1996 joined Elan Corporation’s business development group. For four years he was responsible for licensing products and drug delivery technologies in Europe and Japan. In 2001, Manus joined Elan’s Corporate Venture Capital group in New York where he invested in private and public biotechnology companies. Investments included Sirna (acquired by Merck, 2006) and Beyond Genomics (IPO, 2011). In his 7 years at Elan, Manus concluded over twenty five investment and technology licensing transactions involving companies in the US, Europe and Japan.
Manus led Fountain’s investment in Innocoll Inc. and currently serves on the board of Opsona Therapeutics, Mainstay Medical (IPO, 2014), Neuromod Devices and Inflazome Ltd. He was formerly Chairman of the Irish Venture Capital Association (‘IVCA’) and previously represented Fountain on the board of Amarin Corporation.

Philip Bolton

Executive Director @ Ocorian

Philip has a broad experience in fund administration of both open ended and closed ended funds with a significant level of expertise in relation to alternative asset classes, particularly in regards to private equity and infrastructure investment structures. He also acts as director to numerous investment funds and related General Partner companies and has led the development of Ocorian's depositary and custody service strategy, related service offering and the required regulatory approvals.
Philip has specialised in financial services for the majority of his career, including heading the Jersey fund management company of a private Swiss bank for more than ten years prior to joining Ocorian (previously Bedell Trust) in 2010. He retains a client servicing responsibility in parallel to overseeing business development.

Orla O’Gorman

Head of Equity @ Irish Stock Exchange

Orla is Head of Equity at the Irish Stock Exchange (“ISE”). She is responsible for managing the relationship with companies listed on the ISE as well as working with companies looking to access the ISE’s equity markets. Orla is leading the ISE’s #IPOready programme which is designed to provide executives in high-growth companies with skills in raising strategic finance, the IPO process, investor relations and scaling. Orla is an experienced corporate financier having worked on both the advisory and corporate side of a wide variety of public and private transactions. She has been involved in a number of IPOs, fundraisings, acquisitions, divestments, joint ventures, restructuring and other corporate transacations. Orla has a Bachelor of Commerce and Master of Accounting from University College Dublin and is a Fellow of the Institute of Chartered Accountants in Ireland.

Jon Andrew

Value Enhancement Director @ Inflexion Private Equity

Jon leads Inflexion’s approach to value enhancement. Jon works alongside the investment team to support operational value creation within our investee companies. He shares best practice across the portfolio supporting management teams as they develop growth strategies and helps them monitor performance. Jon’s operational experience added to the networks and expertise within our international and digital teams enables us to add real, tangible value to our portfolio companies.
After gaining a degree in Molecular Biology & Biochemistry at Durham University, Jon qualified as a chartered accountant with PwC and held roles within the Training, Transaction Services and Consulting teams. In 2005, Jon joined LDC to focus on performance improvement in its portfolio companies, establishing its Value Enhancement Group. Over his 17 year private equity career Jon has gained significant experience in a wide range of value creation activities and has particular expertise in driving change through complex integrations and carve outs and IT-led transformational programmes.

Pierre Festal

Principal @ ACE & Company

Pierre Festal joined ACE in 2016. Prior to working at ACE, he worked in the Principal Investment division of Nomura International and in the investment team at Atlas Venture investing in early and growth stage companies across the technology and energy sectors. Pierre started his career as an Investment Banking Analyst in the TMT Team at Jefferies International. He received at MSc in Computer Science and Management, and an MA in Corporate Finance from EM Lyon Graduate School of Management.

Tracy Doree

Founding partner @ Kindred

Founding partner at Kindred, a London based seed-stage venture firm that practices equitable venture. Maths grad who previously co-founded content-led ecommerce site Llustre (acquired by Fab.com). Was VC with MMC Ventures and an IB at NM Rothschild.

James McEvoy

Country Executive Ireland & Head of Capital Markets @ Alter Domus

James joined Alter Domus in October 2014. He is responsible for the overall management and development of both the Irish office and of Capital Markets.
James has over 13 years experience in the Dublin market in the areas of corporate legal advisory services, financial services, structured finance and business development.
James spent ten years as MD for a competitor firm’s Irish office where he was also responsible for the group’s structured finance services, with 30 direct reports across Ireland, The Netherlands and Luxembourg. Immediately prior to joining Alter Domus, James worked for a competitor firm with responsibility for developing its financial services business in Ireland.
James has worked on and served as a director on companies engaged in a wide range of investment and financing transactions including securitisations across all major asset classes, direct lending, asset finance/leasing, private equity and real estate.
James has a Bachelor’s Degree in Business Studies (Management) from the Institute of Technology in Tallaght and a Diploma in Business Studies (Management) from the Dublin Institute of Technology. He is also an Associate of the Chartered Secretaries and Administrators.

Michael Neary

Partner - Corporate Finance @ Grant Thornton

Michael Neary is a partner in the Corporate Finance department with business advisors, Grant Thornton. Michael joined the firm in 2001 and has advised on some of the firm’s largest transactions to date.
He specialises in advising on buying and selling companies, raising finance and company valuations. He advises on the development and implementation of strategies to enhance and realise shareholder value, including situations where the company is experiencing financial stress.
With over twenty years corporate finance and private equity experience Michael has led a wide range of transaction types and sizes in a broad variety of industries providing creative solutions for the clients.
Michael is a fellow of Chartered Accountants Ireland (CAI). He also has a Bachelor of Commerce (BComm) from the National University of Ireland, Galway (NUIG)

Regina Breheny

Director General @ Irish Venture Capital Association

Regina, as Director General, has spearheaded the ongoing professional development of the Association as a lobbying body and provider of technical services to its members. In particular, she handles the Association’s engagement with both public and private policy makers on issues such as funding and promoting SMEs to funding and promoting Venture Capital Funds.
Her early career included institutional fund management at AIB Bank and Zurich Insurance (Eagle Star Insurance Group), and stockbroking at Solomons Stockbrokers.
More recently she has carried on a national and international practice as an Investment Specialist and domestically has been involved in the management of the investment portfolio owned by the Irish Government arising out of the State’s financial support for industrial and technological development. Her extensive international experience, gained in Russia and Eastern Europe, has ranged from designing and implementing stock exchange activities, to training in investment and modern portfolio theory and to providing banking, capital markets and corporate finance expertise to the banking industry.
She is a fellow of the Institute of Chartered Accountants and a member of the Institutes of Taxation and of Investment Management and Research.

Tobias Schirmer

Partner @ JOIN Capital

After graduating from the University of Exeter in 2003, Tobias started his career in the finance sector, working for Merrill Lynch and Deutsche Bank in Europe. After his MBA from IE Business School in 2007, Tobias founded two startups before joining the Bertelsmann Entrepreneur Program in 2008. During this time Tobias worked for Random House in New York, Antena 3 in Madrid and BMG Rights Management in Berlin before joining Bertelsmann Digital Media Investments as Principal, where he made direct and fund investments across Europe. In 2015 Tobias co-founded JOIN Capital, a Berlin-based venture capital firm that invests in post-seed stage companies focusing on enterprise and industrial technology.

Franz Salzmann

Partner @ Speedinvest

Franz is a Partner at Speedinvest. Prior to this, he worked at Deutsche Bank, Atlantic Labs and founded his own IoT company, a hardware based fleet management software out of Berlin, today based in the US (Noa Technologies Inc.). Franz studied economics and holds two degrees from Oxford and University of St. Gallen.

Christoph Ortlepp

Investment Analyst @ Earlybird Venture Capital

Christoph joined Earlybird in 2016 as Investment Analyst at the Munich office. Since then he has been involved in the investment process of Movinga and Fraugster, among a few others.
Christoph has previously worked with SumUp to develop their mobile payments solution, with Oliver Wyman in the telecommunications sector, as well as supported Henkel and Krones at their innovation department.
Christoph holds a M.Sc. & B.Sc. in Management from WHU – Otto Beisheim School of Management and studied abroad at National University of Singapore.

Peter Sandys

Founder & Managing Partner @ Seroba

Seroba is an Irish and UK-based venture capital firm specializing in the life sciences sector. Seroba’s focus is on novel drugs and devices which have the potential to change medical practice. The target is early-stage investments in Western Europe. Peter is the Founder and Managing Partner of Seroba. He was previously Head of ABN Amro Corporate Finance in which role he also had responsibility for the firm’s equity investing strategies. Peter has a deep knowledge of the asset management industry having served as a non-executive director of many mutual funds and asset management mancos including vehicles sponsored by ABN Amro, Anima, BNP, Shwab, Janus, Brandes and Rogge. He is a Chartered Accountant and holds a BBS degree from Trinity College Dublin. He is currently Deputy Chairman of the Irish Venture Capital Association.

Andrew Healey

Partner @ ARCIS Capital

Andrew Healey is a Partner at ARCIS Capital, an independent asset management firm founded in 1993 solely focused on the secondary purchase of European private equity funds and portfolios of private backed companies. He is actively involved in deal sourcing, investment structuring and evaluation and portfolio management. ARCIS has offices in London and Paris and has a team of fifteen including ten professionals.
Prior to ARCIS, Andrew was with Nomura Merchant Banking Division, initially managing the exit from a pre-2000 vintage technology venture capital portfolio, before leading an investment team focused on UK mid-cap buy-outs and growth capital within healthcare, business and IT services. Previously he held banking and corporate finance positions with Bankers Trust, Societe Generale and Nomura in London and Hong Kong.

Michael Brandkamp

Managing Director @ High-Tech Gruenderfonds

Dr. Michael Brandkamp is the Managing Director of High-Tech Gründerfonds.
Before working for High-Tech Gründerfonds he worked as Departmental Director for Innovation Financing and Investment within the KfW Banking Group and as the Head of the Berlin office of tbg Technologie-Beteiligungs- Gesellschaft mbH.
Dr. Michael Brandkamp studied Economics at the Universities of Münster, Nairobi and Bonn. As a research associate he was awarded a doctorate at the Technical University of Freiberg (Saxony) on Technologies for Innovative Start-up Enterprises.

Simon Tobelem

Founding Partner & CEO @ Arie Capital

A Globally experienced Investment and Business Development professional. A Strategic advisor to senior Management and Boards using simultaneously strong analytical and financial engineering skills with “big picture” vision. An Entrepreneur, who speaks fluently 5 languages, specialized in designing and implementing schemes and solutions to help grow and transform my clients businesses in International environments. Simon has co-founded Arie Capital, a Venture / Private Equity firm focusing uniquely on cross-border investments. Their 1st Fund has been fully funded by Chinese LP’s and invests in Israel (50%) and Rest of the World. In parallel they have launched a RMB Fund in China to help their western portfolio develop an autonomous activity in China.

Con Quigley

Corporate Finance Partner @ BDO Ireland

Con is a Partner and member of the Corporate Finance team at BDO Ireland. He is a founder of BDO’s global Technology, Media and Telecoms VC and PE taskforce and is the Irish firm’s representative on it.
Con has c.30 years’ experience in VC in Ireland, London and the US. He has a track record of building strong and successful relationships between management teams and their funders through 25 years of experience in valuations, funding, restructuring and leadership strategies, tax-structuring, and accounting for, negotiating and exiting management-led investments in Ireland, the US and the UK.
He has assisted companies to successfully plan and fund their growth in a range of sectors including TMT, retail, food, life sciences, healthcare, environmental, aviation and hotels.
Con’s technical expertise is in developing robust valuation methodologies for complex and intangible business assets especially IP, market-rights, contentious share values and strategic interests. He handles acquisitions, admission of new owners and new capital, new project appraisal and funding, development of management teams and the resolution of family-related or interpersonal issues which often arise in the ownership and management of private companies and partnerships.
Con has previously completed a B. Commerce in NUIG, is a Fellow of Chartered Accountants Ireland, an Associate of the Irish Taxation Institute and is also a member of the marketing institute.
Con has guest lectured on Chartered Accountants Ireland’s Corporate Finance Diploma course and is a member of the advisory board to the Cairns Business School at NUIG. He is treasurer of EVA International – Ireland’s Biennial.

Jan Rutherford

Partner @ Scottish Equity Partners

Jan is a Partner at Scottish Equity Partners (SEP), an established UK venture capital firm with a strong track record spanning over 150 investments in high growth companies over the last 20 years.
With €1 billion of funds under management, SEP makes equity investments of up to €25 million across a range of technology sectors, including enterprise software, consumer internet and tech-enabled service businesses based in the UK and Ireland, and selectively in Europe.
Current portfolio companies include Europe’s leading online eyewear company Mister Spex, luxury fashion retailer Matchesfashion.com, insurance software specialist SSP, data centre business Pulsant, and online car finance provider Zuto. SEP was the largest investor in global travel search business Skyscanner before its acquisition by Ctrip for £1.4bn.
Having joined SEP in 2004 from Dresdner Kleinwort Capital, Jan leads the London office with responsibility for new investments and investor relations activities. With an operational and commercial background in the pharmaceutical industry, she leads SEP’s healthcare investment activities and in 2016 was named one of the Top 100 Most Influential Health Tech Leaders.

Joe Healy

Manager – HPSU Division @ Enterprise Ireland

Heading up Enterprise Irelands High Potential Start-Up (HPSU) Division, Joe leads the three teams with responsibility for ensuring that the next generation of HPSU companies are identified, funded and supported to scale their international growth. Enterprise Ireland is the Irish development agency with a mandate to support the international growth and development of Irish based industry.
In 2016, Pitchbook ranked Enterprise Ireland as number 4 globally for seed investments since January 2010 and number 1 for Ireland and the UK. Enterprise Ireland funds over 200 early stage projects and start up companies every year across all sectors, with the majority being Tech/ICT based. The agency works closely with companies in a developmental role during their scaling journey particularly in the 2 years post seed investment. Enterprise Ireland not only provides funding through direct equity investments in its portfolio companies, but also is an active indirect funder as an LP across the Irish Venture Capital industry.
Prior to working with HPSUs, Joe has worked in range of role including commercial due diligence, the Food and beverage sectors, managed the EI Equity portfolio and led Corporate Services and Policy.

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